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Johnny Fontane
Category:Characters | aliases = | film = | franchise = The Godfather | image = | notability = | type = | race = | gender = | base of operations = Hollywood, California Little Italy, New York City, New York | known relatives = | status = | born = 1910 The Godfather (novel); Mario Puzo; March, 1969 | died = | 1st appearance = Godfather, The (1972) | final appearance = Godfather: Part III, The (1990) | actor = Al Martino }} Johnny Fontane is a fictional singer and a minor character featured in the 1972 gangster drama The Godfather. He also appeared in the 1990 sequel, The Godfather: Part III. He was played by actor Al Martino in both films. Biography Johnny Fontane was a popular singer who grew up in New York City in the early half of the 20th century. By the 1940s, he had gained no small measure of fame and notoriety. Johnny was contracted to a big band troupe, but as demand for his talent grew larger, he tried to move on to bigger and better things, including film acting. Unfortunately, the manager of the big band group refused to let him out of his contract. Johnny went to his Godfather, Don Vito Corleone and expressed his dilemma. Don Corleone visited the band manager and offered him $10,000 to release Fontane from his contract, but the man refused. The following day Don Corleone returned to the man's office, only this time he brought his chief leg-breaker, Luca Brasi with him. Brasi put a gun to the band manager's head, and Corleone told him that either his brains or his signature would be on Johnny Fontane's release form. Immediately thereafter, the man freed Fontane from his contract, earning only $1,000 dollars for his trouble as opposed to the $10,000 that was originally offered to him. The story of Don Corleone's visit with the big band manager was told to Kay Adams by Michael Corleone. The event was not actually portrayed on-screen. Free to do what he liked, Johnny began acting in films. He became involved with an up-and-coming starlet, who was the protégé of film producer Jack Woltz. Johnny's involvement with this young woman, drew her away from Woltz and she left the industry. Jack never forgave Johnny Fontane for this effrontery, and vowed that he would never work in one of his pictures. Johnny really wanted to star in one of Woltz' war pictures however. Knowing that Woltz would never give him the time of day, he again sought the assistance of Don Corleone. He visited the family's New York Estate on the day of Vito's daughter's wedding. Don Corleone sent the family's consigliere, Tom Hagen, to broker a deal with Jack Woltz. Tom Hagen flew out to Hollywood to bargain with Woltz on Fontane's behalf. Woltz flew into a rage, citing that he would never give Johnny a movie role and that he was not threatened by a bunch of "goombahs". Tom politely left Woltz' company and returned to New York. Don Corleone responded to Jack's poor demeanor by beheading his prized stallion and having the head placed into Jack Woltz' bed while he slept. Notes & Trivia * * Johnny Fontane was actually based on the real life crooner and movie star Frank Sinatra. There are those who believe that Sinatra was connected to the mob and used his resources to secure himself a role in the 1953 war drama From Here to Eternity. * was also a featured character in the 2006 The Godfather video game by Electronic Arts (EA) Games. See also * The Godfather * The Godfather images * The Godfather characters * The Godfather miscellaneous External Links * * Johnny Fontane at The Godfather Wiki References ---- Category:Godfather, The (1972)/Characters Category:Godfather: Part III, The (1990)/Characters Category:1910/Character births Category:Characters with biographies